Looking for positive vibes, thoughts and prayers today from the board for a fellow Wolverine. As some of you know, my wife has been battling cancer for over 5 years. Unfortunately, we found out that she has developed a brain tumor. She is having the tumor removed today and her surgeon is very optimistic. Fortunately, for us we happen to have one of the best neurosurgeons in the country performing the surgery, and like my wife and I, he of course is a University of Michigan graduate (both undergrad and medical). So we are in good hands. Go Blue!
On a side note, I really appreciate this blog. It is an amazing place to find all things Michigan and to get away from the real stresses of everyday life at times and for that I am grateful.
EDIT: Our MGoDoctor attacked the cancer with an enthusiasm unknown to Mankind. This Doc is the Harbaugh of neurosurgeons. Doc said surgery went really well, and got the tumor out safely. Hopefully, there are no complications and my wife can get back on her feet quickly to battle the rest of the cancer that has metastasized in her lungs.

I can't link the article due to it being behind the paywall, but UM Ann Arbor came in 24th overall in the latest WSJ rankings, and was the top public university to make the list.

The biggest issue for the public institutions was the resources ranking. Resources were defined as "instructional spending, student-faculty ratios and research output". Due to tighter budgets and funding, the publics took a bath in this category, which was 30% of the overall score. Only three public schools were in the top 100 for resources. Outcomes for graduates was the #1 factor for rankings, with student satisfaction also being important.

As the proud holder of a Bachelors of Science in Aerospace Engineering from MICHIGAN, I regret to pass along all of you a bit of sad news today -- the passing of Jack Garman. He was a MICHIGAN engineer who worked for NASA in the 1960s and 1970s.

And he single-handedly saved the Apollo 11 moon landing from an abort, just minutes before the landing.

Here is the story and his obit: http://www.space.com/34135-jack-garman-apollo-11-obituary.html

The short version: Minutes before moon landing, the lander's computer started spitting out error codes that the astronauts had never seen -- "1201, 1202." They'd never trained on them. They were freaking out (as much as astronauts do.) Dean Kranz, the head back at Mission Control, needed answers -- fast.

Jack Garman knew the answer. In training, some weird codes had ended one training session, so he was tasked to write down every error code that could arise. 1201 and 1202 were on his list. He told everyone, not to worry, it's ok. So Mission Control relayed that to the astronauts - it's ok, ignore the alarms. The vehicle landed safely, and all was well. (The alarms meant the computer was being overtasked and was taking longer to respond than normal.)

If Jack hadn't been there to save the day, the astronauts were about to abort the mission. Space history would have been very different.